USTA Board of Directors meeting comes to a close
March 16, 2015,from the USTA Communications Department
Columbus, OH — The final committee meetings of the 2015 USTA Board of Directors meeting were conducted Monday morning (March 16) at the Hilton-Easton in Columbus. The 2015 budget was approved, including an additional $100,000 added for a total of $150,000 for the Broadcast Committee to distribute to assist in funding to racetracks wishing to have their races televised on national or regional cable TV. The Board also approved the remainder of the $250,000 annual budget to continue working with Converseon on the USTA social media initiative.
USTA/Mark Hall photo
The Finance Committee met on Monday morning on the final day of the USTA Board of Directors meeting.
Several tracks have made initial inquiries to the USTA Broadcast Committee for potential television funding. The Little Brown Jug, Scioto Downs and representatives from the Hambletonian have made requests for consideration.
“We would like to be in a position to support those endeavors should they come to us and meet the criteria,” said Chairman Ivan Axelrod, explaining that the USTA Directors and Committee members want to assist tracks in their efforts to increase visibility.
Future possibilities for revenue increases were discussed with a focus on the potential for sponsorships and remnant advertising, as well as the potential of a live streaming harness racing channel. The point was emphasized that maximizing content and capabilities needs to be done quickly because at its core, the USTA is a member services organization.
The Rules Committee approved rule and bylaw changes 3 (with amendment), 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, as well as an amendment to rule 10, and rejected rules 1, 2, and 4. The complete list of Rule and Bylaw Changes can be found here.
Rules 3, 5, 6, and 8 all pertained to regulation and licensing of Racing Under Saddle races and riders in the interest of making the product more consistent and competitive so that it may be looked at in the future as a potential betting product.
The 2016 Board of Directors meeting will be conducted Feb. 27-29 in Columbus, Ohio.
- Communications Committee highlights opening session of USTA Board meeting (Saturday, March 14, 2015)
The Communications Committee meeting on Saturday (March 14) brought a range of new ideas as well as updates with the progress of 2014 and plans for the future at the USTA Board of Directors annual meetings, held at the Hilton-Easton in Columbus.
- Phil Langley re-elected USTA president (Sunday, March 15, 2015)
Phil Langley was re-elected as president of the U.S. Trotting Association by a 38-13 tally over challenger Jason Settlemoir during the general session of the USTA Board of Directors meeting on Sunday (March 15), held at the Hilton-Easton.
- USTA to create industry summits (Wednesday, March 18, 2015)
Building upon the momentum generated by its recently concluded annual board of directors meeting, the United States Trotting Association will create and host at least two “industry summits” this year, USTA President Phil Langley announced today.